Bob Bradley coach of the USA football team said he expects the ‘Soca Warriors’ to throw everything at his team in their crucial Concacaf Second Round World Cup qualifier at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, tomorrow from 8.11pm.
T&T, meanwhile battled to a 0-0 draw away to Guatemala, despite playing 51 minutes a man down after defender Cyd Gray was send off for a second bookable offence.
The drawn result left T&T and Guatemala locked on five points each in second spot, but the Central Americans lead on goal-difference while Cuba is bottom of the group without a point.
Following his team’s qualification with the win in Washington on Saturday night, Bradley released nine players from the roster, while adding four players from Major League Soccer added of their arrival in T&T on Sunday night.
Bradley wasted little time in getting his players ready for the T&T match as the US held a two-hour training session under hot and humid conditions at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Malabar around mid-day yesterday.
Following the session, Bradley speaking to the local media said he expects a different attitude from the T&T team to the one that was beaten 3-0 in the USA last month.
“T&T had a super effort against Guatemala on Saturday. They put a great amount of work into the game and will surely be hoping to build on that on Wednesday.
With regards to the battle for the second spot qualifying spot from the group Bradley said the edge was now in T&T’s favour.
“The result on Saturday was a much better one for T&T than Guatemala as they will be at home for their next two matches while the Central Americans have to play away.
“Come Wednesday we expect them to throw everything at us.”
Despite releasing nine of his most senior players from the team ahead of the T&T match, the USA coach dispelled any notions that his team was taking the match lightly.
“First of all, we always take a lot of pride in representing the USA and while we did release some players, there are some new faces in the team who are all hoping to impress the coach.”
“Playing away from home we expect the crowd to be into the match, but our guys know how to play in these kinds of atmosphere and hopefully the mentality of the squad will be a good one
Columbus Crewe defender, Frankie Hejduk, who is likely to captain the US team added, “Every game for us is very important because we are here to represent the USA.”
“In Concacaf every match away from home is a tough battle and we have encountered some tough matches in T&T before and the guys are looking forward to another good match on Wednesday and try to win.”
Striker DaMarcus Beasley while stating that his team was here to win was quick to point out that the match will be no walkover as the T&T side has changed since their last meeting. “T&T have now included a lot of their veterans guys like Yorke and Latapy and will be ready to play come Wednesday.
“T&T is also at home and it’s going to be difficult. At the same time we don’t have the same team and we have to match them in spirit and enthusiasm.
Reflecting on the 3-0 win over T&T in the USA, Beasley said, “The goals did not come easy for us, we had to work very hard and at times we were very lucky not to concede while T&T was unlucky. Hopefully we will have the same luck again in this match, but T&T has a good squad and we will have to be at our best.